1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to teethers for teething children, and in particular to a two component teether wherein one component is kept at room temperature for being held by a hand of a teething child, while the other component is cooled for being used for biting on by the child in his or her mouth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that teething babies need to exercise their gums and erupting teeth on a chewable object. Teethers have been developed in the prior art for this purpose. Teethers are generally constructed of a resiliently deformable plastic or rubber material which permits the child to bit it, yet retains its shape and original condition after the child is through with it.
Many shapes of teethers have been forwarded in the prior art including rings, animals, and various other fanciful shapes. Following is an exemplification of the kinds of prior art teethers.
Some teethers are constructed simply, such as U.S. Pat. No. DES276,845, which discloses a kitty shaped teether, and U.S. Pat. No. DES277,031, which discloses a three pointed ring teether.
Some teethers have a permanently attached handle portion, such as U.S. Pat. No. DES264,880.
Some teethers have other parts which serve as toys or pacifiers, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,003, which discloses a spinable duck within a teething ring, U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,632, which discloses a pacifier attached to a teething ring, U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,149, which discloses a plurality of beads connected with a teething ring, U.S. Pat. Nos. DES290,655 and DES302,468, which both disclose a combined rattle and teether, and U.S.. Pat. No. DES280,749, which discloses toy keys connected with a teether.
Some teethers have provision for being fluid filled, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,116,202, 3,990,455, 3,669,117 and 2,703,087, as well as Great Britain Patent 2,156,686.
Some teethers are constructed of flavored plastic or rubber, such as Great Britain Patent 1,118,738.
Finally, some teethers are constructed of an edible material, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,404.
It is known that a cold teether works extremely well to soothe a child's hurting gums. And, it is an established practice of parents to place their child's teether in the freezer to cool it down for later placement in the child's mouth, as discussed in hereinabove mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 2,703,087. This practice, however, has major disadvantages. The child's hand can become uncomfortably cold, and his/her hand causes the teether to more quickly warm-up, thereby limiting its soothing benefits.
Accordingly, what is needed in the prior art is a teether which specifically is intended for being cooled, and for which the cooling effect is not compromised by the child holding onto the teether.